sharing my imperfect journey through life.

Made with Love

In the early months of our pregnancy I knew that I wanted to put a special touch on our nursery for our little one. I wanted to wait to do anything until we knew the sex of our baby, but I knew that I wanted to make as much as I could by hand and on my own. I didn’t want to go too crazy, but I LOVE creating things and why not for my own little babe? Made with Love is a small series that will start this coming Monday about the things that I made/created for our little mister’s nursery.

My hope for this series is to inspire the beginner and provide easy to follow steps on how to make your own. It’s much easier that you may think and the cost isn’t much different than what you would buy from the store. I call that a win win 🙂

What are some of the projects that I did? A changing pad cover, crib sheets, crib skirt, yarn wall hanging, painting, 70s dresser update, mountain shelves and a baby size quilt (soon to be featured!).

Before diving into the first project, I want to provide you with some things to consider when creating your own nursery (and why not share a nursery reveal as well?).

Your Theme

This may seem very obvious, but I don’t want to skip over it. Your theme could be as basic as shapes or something way specific but think about what you envision for your nursery first. For our little man I really wanted a woodland theme, but nothing cheesy or what you would expect. We decided to add a modern twist to the woodland theme. Don’t forget to include your husband in this decision. You may be surprised by his input or maybe an idea you wouldn’t have considered.

Fabric Selection

After you’ve decided on a theme, it’s time for one of my favorite parts: fabric selection! It took me awhile to find the perfect fabric that encompassed what my vision was. Originally I was hoping to find something with navy blue, white, grey and a turquoisey blue, but sometimes you have to be a little flexible (or be a fabric designer – that’s not me).

It may also be helpful to note that your theme doesn’t have to come from one specific fabric. In fact, it could come from how the fabrics play with the others and the theme that is created within that mesh. For example, I made my nephew a quilt and my sister-in-law wanted a “Puppies and Sports” theme and as you can imagine there isn’t really a specific fabric that encompasses all of those elements. We worked together to find a balance in the fabrics to help create this theme. You can see the piecing of the quilt in the post here.

If you are purchasing your fabric from an online distributor, it is VERY important to get samples first. I’m sure you’ve all by now seen the picture of the white/gold dress that in a different light looked blue/black. If you haven’t, google white gold dress controversy. For me, that would be my worst nightmare to spend X amount of dollars on fabric, have it come to my house to make this amazing quilt or project and have the colors not be what i expected. Getting samples will eliminate this.

Texture and colors are also very important to consider. They can help create interest and can draw your eye around the quilt, project or the room as a whole. For our woodland theme, this could look like wood grain or small “ticking” lines that mimic grass.

Last thing about fabric: Don’t be afraid to get a little bold or to get a sample of a fabric you don’t overly love. You may be surprised how well it brings some of your other favorite fabrics together.

Room Size

Our nursery is VERY small. We really needed to have furniture pieces that were practical and, if possible, served a dual purpose. Using shelves on the walls, having a storage cart and a reclining swivel glider are some of the key things that helped us with this issue.

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I think that’s enough items to consider, at least for now! I know that more will most likely come up as I explain each project, but I think that’s enough to get you started. So without further ado, let’s reveal the modern, woodland nursery!

Want to know where I got some of these items? Here’s the links to the items below.

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2 thoughts on “Made with Love”

I designed our nursery from scratch too. I’m not the worlds best seamstress so I had to work with some pieces that were already made and piece them together. I bought wall stencils and traced them with a paint pen, then filled them in by had (gave the illusion that I am FAR more artistic than I really am. I used Pinterest for ideas on how to make mobiles and made tie blankets for the quilts. then I bought pieces in fabric that complimented the general design I was going for rather than buying a “nursery in a bag”. The main thing that took into a account was the fact that we didn’t find out the sex of our babies so we needed something that could go either way. which worked out since we had one of each. We also had to fit a twin nursery into a space barely big enough for a queen bed and a dresser. As far as design I wanted something not overtly babyish so that my husband would like it and it would work when they’re a little older too. We LOVED how it turned out!

lindsay ralene.

I am a twenty-something newlywed and a boy mom to our son, Nolan, with a heart for the creative, finding natural solutions for daily life, and want to glorify God with the gifts that he has given me. This blog is my outlet for my adventures, creative endeavors, and a place to reflect on where life takes me and share some tidbits along the way.